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Alzheimer drug reintroduced showing promise

The Alzheimer’s Association have stated that a new drug called Solanezumab can slow down the cognitive and functional declines among Alzheimer’s patients experiencing mild cognitive impairment.

From the association, Dean Hartley has said that their team is “changing the course of the disease.” In their most recent study, the observed 200 Alzheimer’s patients between the ages of 50 and 90 years old who were all randomly assigned a supervised program of aerobic exercise or to a control group.

During the study, they noticed that the people who less frequently or at a lower level of exertion exercised, the aerobic conditioning classes cut down rates of depression, irritability and anxiety, all symptoms that are highly common in those that have Alzheimer’s disease, according to Ledger Gazette.

In another study, data showed that patients who took part in more than 80 percent of the exercise sessions offered and were also able to raise their heart rate beyond 70 percent of their max rate tended to experience improvements with memory and selective attention.

The information gained from the studies showed that there is in fact evidence that regular physical activity can reduce the risk of cognitive decline and in turn, reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease as well as other dementias.

An Alzheimer’s researcher at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, Laura Baker, said that these effects cannot be provided by any medications available at this time.

“While these promising results need to be replicated in larger and more diverse populations, the fact that aerobic exercise can improve cognitive function in VCI means that people with the condition have hope there may soon be a proven tool they can use to prolong their independence and improve their quality of life”, said study author Teresa Liu-Ambrose.

“These findings also highlight the potential value of non-drug therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and remind us that research ought to adamantly pursue combination and multi-modal approaches to Alzheimer’s therapy and prevention”, Carrillo said.

Although the research is providing some encouragement, the Alzheimer’s Association says that more research into the drug is necessary to confirm any concrete findings.